1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a dispensing apparatus that can be recharged with articles such as magnetic cards for telephone usage, IC cards, cash value script, value credit cards, and the like. More particularly, the present invention relates to a lockable cassette, or magazine, in which the inventory of articles being dispensed can be securely provided to a vending machine.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Vending machines for dispensing various articles, such as prepaid telephone cards, has been known in the art. Various forms of compact equipment for dispensing such cards have been known such as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,993,587 and European Laid Open Patent Application Ser. No. EP 0 805 772. An example of prior art can be seen in FIG. 8 wherein a cube shaped storage member can support a vertically aligned stack of laminated card bodies 3. A support plate 4 supports the stacked array of cards 3 and is apertured with a window 38 to permit a friction roller 5 to extend into the storage space for sending out a card. Adjacent the aperture window 38 is a small apertured window 39 that permits an arm 44 of a micro switch to contact the stack of cards and to indicate when the storage space is empty.
An exit aperture 40 permits a delivering roller 7 to dispense the lowest card in the stack of cards. Adjacent to the delivering roller 7 is an inversion roller 8 which is rotated in a reverse direction to the card delivering direction to thereby ensure that only one card is sent out at a time. It is also possible to reverse the movement of the roller 5 if there has been a jam in order to clear any cards that are stuck.
A problem in the use of such a card dispensing structure has been the susceptibility of having valuable cards misappropriated or stolen by service personnel.
The present invention provides a secure magazine for holding a plurality of articles to be dispensed from a dispensing machine and further provides the combination of a secured magazine and a dispensing apparatus. A housing member with a cavity for storing articles having a pivotal lid provides the structure of the magazine. The magazine can be releasably secured to a dispensing apparatus for appropriately dispensing the articles. The magazine can have a lock member for locking the lid to the housing member. A gate member is movably mounted within the housing member to control an exit aperture through which the articles are dispensed. When the magazine is initially charged with articles, the lid member can be secured by a lock member and the gate member is initially set as a closed position. Service personnel can then install the secure magazine in the appropriate dispensing apparatus.
A one cycle gate operating mechanism includes a movable actuator movable from a first position to a second position to permit the securement of the magazine to dispensing apparatus. The movable actuator also is coupled to the gate member for moving the gate member from the initial close position to an open position for dispensing the articles by the dispensing apparatus. The actuator can also be moved back to a first position to release the magazine from the dispensing apparatus and to permit the closing of the gate. A gate locking apparatus will lock the gate member in the closed position after the one cycle of the gate operating mechanism. Accordingly, if the gate mechanism is open to permit the removal of articles, when the gate is again closed, it will prevent the magazine from being operatively mounted to the dispensing apparatus and the personnel in control of the secure magazine will have to explain the failure to properly install the magazine and to explain the missing articles.